Preparing rasam is simplest for an experienced cook but beginners want to know the secret behind the tasty rasam prepared by their mothers.I have used home grown tomatoes for this rasam. Rasam can be easily prepared by anyone in the microwave.

Around five years back, I suddenly planned a face lift for our small garden area. After cleaning up the garden I bought a nice pot to be used as compost pit. We collected the vegetable and fruit waste in this pot and used it as manure. I used to throw the rotten tomatoes as well.

In our new duplex home we made planters on the compound wall and the parapet wall. My hubby mixed soil with the compost we had collected over the years and planted some rose cuttings. After around two weeks the planters were filled with tomato plants. We re potted them and have harvested over 100 tomatoes till now. Another hundred can be plucked in a week:).

Thakkali Koottu (Tomato koottu )

Cooking with home grown vegetables is very satisfying and you know there are no artificial fertilizers or pesticides. The aroma of freshly plucked vegetables is heavenly.

Ingredients

Raw tomatoes – 6 to 8

Moong dal – 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

Salt – to taste

For the paste

Grated coconut – 1 tbs

Coriander seeds – 1/2 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Channa dal – 1 tsp

Hing – a small piece

Red-chili – 1 no

Oil – 1 tsp

For the seasoning

Ghee – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves – 5 nos

Red chilli – 1 no

Method

Slice the tomatoes into long pieces.Place in a MW safe bowl and mix with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. MW high for 5 minutes

Pressure cook the moong dal with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder.

Roast the ingredients for the paste except coconut in 1 tsp oil, add coconut and grind to a smooth paste.

Add cooked moong dal, ground paste and salt to the tomatoes and mix well.Add a little water to get Koottu consistency.

Mw high for 2 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Cut the red chili into small pieces.

Heat 1 tsp ghee and add the mustard seeds and red chili; when the mustard crackles add the curry leaves. Add the seasoning to the koottu.

After the article in The Hindu hits for the blog has increased considerably🙂. The sad part is that my pictures and recipes are shamelessly copied and used by other websites. Follow this link http://www.chennai.com/more_kuzambu.html I know many other bloggers are upset just like me. But now I will write something that no one can copy, about the homes I have lived till date!

We moved into our new duplex house in February 2012. This is my 25th home.

I was born at no:3 1st street kallukuzhi Trichy. I was born at home before my mother could be hospitalized. Being a girl after three boys, the whole family was elated. I was affectionately called Ponnu (girl).A funny incident happened about which no one was aware for long. At home I was named Latha. My uncle registered my name as Rukmani (my granny’s name). This confusion was solved by naming me as latha rukmani at school! A few months later we left for Calcutta, but we came back to the same house after 4 years.

Badam/Cashew Halwa

Cashew burfi was one of first sweets my amma prepared. My granny used to travel a lot to assist her long list of relatives for one occasion or the other. My amma and aunt would carry on with their experimental cooking, with expert advice from my grandpa🙂. Once as per his recipe they fried cashew in ghee and dropped them into hot, thick sugar syrup! The cashews turned black and could not be separated from the syrup. Only thing they could do was to clean up the kitchen before my granny returned! This was one of first experiments of two great cooks :)!

Traditionally badam is skinned for halwa. I have retained the skin as per dietitians’ advice.

Ingredients

Badam(almonds) /Cashew – 1 cup

Sugar – 1 cup

Cardamom – 4 nos

Nutmeg – a small piece

Saffron leaves – a few

Ghee – 2 tbs

Almond halwa will be cream in colour. Mine is wheatish as I have retained the skin.

Method

Soak the almonds in hot water for one hour.* Peel the skin if you wish.

Grind the almonds with cardamom and nutmeg to a smooth paste, adding a little water.

In a heavy bottomed pan mix the ground paste, sugar and ghee. Cook on a low to medium flame, stirring continuously.

Cook till the halwa leaves the sides and forms into a ball when stirred.

Transfer the halwa to a serving dish and decorate with saffron leaves.

Note:* The skin can be peeled easily after soaking for around 5 minutes.

A few months back I received a mail from Ms.Pankaja, a journalist from The Hindu. She heard about theyumblog from her colleagues and wanted to write about us and a few other bloggers.

Thank you Pankaja for writing about theyumblog.

Look who’s cooking on the blog

PANKAJA SRINIVASAN

Just how many desperate cooks are out there? Plenty, as Latha, Lakshmi, Srivalli and Ashok tell Pankaja Srinivasan. Their food blogs have saved marriages, pleased the gods, hunted down paatis and appealed to fussy kids

“You truly are a God-send! …I’m just learning to cook…I’m away from India and there’s no one to guide me……Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all your posts! (please put recipes for karthigai urundai also…)”

Breathless messages such as these await Latha Maami daily on ‘The Yum blog’. Grateful cooks have been writing to her since 2007.

Tired of being left out of all the Internet activity around her, Latha Narasimhan decided she also wanted a piece of the action. “I wanted to do something online too. But first, I had to learn how to operate the computer,” she admits wryly. She decided she would put down the plentiful recipes she had noted down while watching her mother cook. Today, Latha’s blog has nearly 25 lakh hits. (She blogs with her daughter Lakshmi). Latha is anxious to preserve traditional recipes.

“Deepavali marundhu, food for the new mom, the pregnant woman… We should not lose those recipes. Putting them on my blog ensures they stay around.” She collects recipes from the older cooks she knows such as her invaluable source, Parameshwari Akka, who lives in Kulithalai.

It is not just frantic ‘how-to-make-puliodharai’ posts that Latha receives. Sometimes it is her opinion on a microwave oven, and once there was an SOS asking help to tie a nine-yard sari! During festivals she has to clear last-minute doubts. “I am usually running from kitchen to computer all day long,” she says. Lakshmi loves the idea of blogging with her mom. She says, “The Internet offers such a wonderful, democratic way to document, preserve and share.”

MARATHON MOM

Thirty-seven-year-old Srivalli has two blogs, one daughter and twin sons. So a lot of what goes into her ‘Spice your life’ blog is kid-tested and approved. “My daughter has always been a fussy eater. So I had to come up with ideas to encourage her to eat. My boys, on the other hand, are fine with whatever I make. But I have noticed that when I say that I have made something especially for them, they eat better,” she says. Her other blog, ‘Cooking 4 all seasons’ features everyday food. Srivalli says her blog is like a journal. “It records my adventures as a cook, mom, and a person passionate about food and writing.” Her chocolates, chicken biryani and sponge cake have won admirers and she is surprised how many people want to know how to make rasam! Grateful newly-weds have told her that her blog has saved their marriages. In Spice… Srivalli holds a blogging marathon in which participants post a recipe on 14 consecutive days on a particular theme. So if the theme is paayasam, bloggers have to post a paayasam recipe every day. They also have to read all the posts and leave comments on them. “Members tell me that the marathon pushes them to be regular bloggers and eggs them on to try new dishes. The marathon is a year old now.”

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

London Olympic Stadium holds 80,000 people. This blog was viewed about 510,000 times in 2011. If it were competing at London Olympic Stadium, it would take about 6 sold-out events for that many people to see it.